Juxtaposition: The Coexistence of Traditional Navajo and Standards Based Curricula

Abstract

Northridge Elementary, a small public school serving almost entirely Navajo students, was recently labeled with a failing grade from the New Mexico Department of Education. This study explores what this label reveals and what it conceals. Using educational connoisseurship and criticism as the method of inquiry, this study considers how the label interacts with the structural, intentional, curricular, pedagogical, and evaluative dimensions within the school. As offered in the thematic aspect of the analysis, the label overgeneralizes realities of Northridge Elementary and is hindering rather the benefiting students.